History Revived

Bill struggled with the computer like a fury, trying to restart the Main Program. He had been at it all morning, and almost the whole night before, trying to re-program the computers to get the electricity back on again. What he found, was some extremely bad news.

"Damn that Richter!", he said beneath his breath. "He has bugged everything, down to the last support-program. The whole system is out."

Benton stood by another computer screen, carefully trying a number of commands, all without the slightest effect.

"During my years of experience with computers, I have learned that there is no such thing as a perfect program. And therefor no such thing as a perfect bug. There are always ways around them." Benton leaned forward towards Bill.

"Now think!"

Bill leaned back in his chair, closing his eyes, trying to think straight. OK, let's see. The mainprogram is out, bugs all over the system, and the electricity's down because of it...

"Um... Mr. Hammond? Bill?"

"What?" Hammond and the others turned around to face Keith, standing hands in pockets as he seemed to ponder on something.

"If the whole system was to be shut down, and then re-started, there is a chance that it would reload the original program, without Richter's bugs. Then everything would come back; the fences would be on, phone-lines, gates, Contol-systems, the works!"

"Well, in theory, yeah", Bill agreed. "Then again, shutting down the system could break it all together, it might not go back up again and be completely dead."

"That is an insane risk to take!" Hammond objected, but Benton nodded.

"Yes, but it might just work. At least it's worth a try."

Bill snorted. He didn't like impossible choices. It was a hell of a risk, but on the other hand... He imagined the T-Rex and the Raptors running amuck in the park.

"Alright Keith", he said hoarse. "It's your call."

He got up and went over to the main switch. Holding it for a brief second, he looked at them.

"Okay, here goes... keep your fingers crossed." He turned off the switch and everything went dark.

He waited twenty long seconds, and then with an inhale, turned the switch on again.

Nothing happened.

He exhaled. "Oh shit."

But Benton stood by a computerscreen, looking closely at it.

"Mr. Waters, Mr. Nicholls. Come and take a look at this!"

Bill and Keith rushed up to it. The screen was black, but down at the bottom, two words were blinking.

Bill started smiling to himself. It had worked. The program was on.

"Hey, it worked! I'll be damned!" He smiled at Dr. Quest and gave Keith an approving nod. "Good call, Nicholls."

"But... why aren't the lights back? Or the screens?" Hammond said, looking confused.

"I guess the shut-down has turned off the Main Electricity Switch at the Power plant." Bill replied. "Now, we just have to get there and turn the switch on, and everything will be back on line."

"Can't we get Peter and Mr. Bannon to do that?" Hammond said. "They still have the radios with them."

Race and Peter had returned to the Center at sun-down the night before, without having seen a trace of the teens. Race had stubbornly said that he would continue to search after nightfall, but Benton had convinced him that apart from it being impossible to search in the dark, it also was extremely dangerous. Race wasn't happy about it, but had unwillingly been forced to agree.
None of them had slept very well, their concern about the kids, and about their own situation lay too heavy on them all. Race and Peter had gone out again at dawn to continue the search, but so far, without any luck. They had heard the T-rex roaring from afar now and then, and seen some of the other dinosaur species as well, although none of the predators.

Benton hesitated for a moment, looking like he most of all wanted to go himself, but then he nodded agreeingly.

He took the radio and turned it on.

"Benton to Race, over. Benton to Race, over?"

The line was silent at first, but then Race's stern voice was heard.

Benton looked at the others and nodded.

"We're about to fix the power and the systems here. But we need you to go to the power plant and turn the Main Switch."

"Peter knows the location", Hammond said, and Benton passed it on to Race.

A short silence followed. The Race was heard again.

"Good, good. Where are you now?"

"Have you seen any dinosaurs?"

"Race..."

"Be careful, Roger."

Race broke the connection, and Benton slowly lowered the radio, his calm face enduring tides of anxiety and concern.

He tapped the radio in his hand and put it on a desk. Turning to the others he said:

"I should go out there. Not that Jonny and the others aren't usually capable of taking care of themselves, but this is no usual situation."

"Benton, my friend. I understand your concern, but you'd better let Mr. Bannon and Peter handle this. It will not do any good running around out there without aim. I pray you, don't go out!"

Benton sighed. "You are right, my friend. My mind knows it, but my heart will not easily succumb to waiting."

He raised his hands in a resigned gesture. "Here, we are helpless. We can do nothing."

Hammond, Bill and Keith silently watched the scientist walking restlessly forth and back.

* * * * *

The sun's light woke Jonny up. He shifted slightly. "Uuuhhmm... Not yet, dad... Just a few more minutes..."
Then his eyes flicked open, and he remembered that he wasn't in his bed at the Quest Compound, but lying in a tree in the middle of an island in the Atlantic.
He rose to a half-sitting pose, looking around him. The sun hade risen over the trees and the light sparkled through the leaves.
Just beside him lay Jessie, with her face covered with a curtain of hair, sleeping peacefully. On her other side was Hadji, sleeping as well.

Jonny yawned and stretched his arms.

"Oh, man, I'm starving!"

He searched through the backpack, finding nothing to eat. He shot a look on the sleeping ones and made his mind up. They won't miss me, he thought. I'll be back before they wake up.

He quickly slid down the tree, landing with a smooth thud in the grass. Looking around him, he went back out on the plain, carefully looking around him. The nights terror, although diminished, was still fresh on his mind, and he didn't at all like the idea of another meeting with the T-Rex.

The view was beautiful; the grass was still wet with dew, and the sunlight made the whole plain glitter as if spread with diamonds. Jonny headed for the lake, and reached it without any trouble. He bent down and drank deep, finding the water a bit muddy but still drinkable. He filled a flask and and looked around him.
He saw a shrubbery a bit away and went over to it.
It was a black-berry bush and Jonny tried one of the big blue-black berries. It was delicious, and he started to eat as much as he could manage. When he was done, he collected as many berries as he could and went back to the others. They were just waking up when he returned.

"Hey guys? Had a good sleep? Gotcha some breakfast."

"Oh! Black-berries! Way to go, Jonny."

"There's a lot more where this came from."

"We should probably go there, and take as many as we can carry. But this will keep us on our feet at least for a while."

"Yeah, you're right Hadji. We can wash off in the lake too. By the way, I brought some water."

Jonny handed over the flask and Hadji and Jessie drank deep. They walked to the lake to wash their faces, and after putting about half a pound of black-berries in the bag, they were ready to move on.

"Okay, you guys. Which way?" Jonny looked around him.

"Gotta be that way." Jessie pointed. "We came from over there, so we'll just keep our path."

"Shouldn't be too far to the center", Jonny said, "We should be able to make it in an hour or two. Let's go."

* * * * *

"There's the powerplant", Peter said. "Come on."

The plant was a grey, bunker-like concrete building, with only a massive steel-door as only enterance. They hurried up to the door, and Peter tapped a numbercode and turned a big wheel to open the half-feet thick door.

Inside, a narrow stair led downwards, and it was darker then a black hole. As Peter shut the door with a loud clang, he took forward two flashlights and handed Race one.

"Gotta use these for now. But not for too long I hope." He pointed the lightbeam ahead. "Come on."

The stairs led down and away for a while, and Peter walked fast, silent. Race gripped his hand tighter around the gun. If any of those toothy reptiles even gets close to Jessie, I'm gonna make enough dino-skins to open a boots store!

They went through another door, this one made of bars, and Peter turned his head. "Not far now. It's just ahead."

They went down a small step, and Peter shone forward, showing a large locker. "There it is."

Peter took out a key and opened the locker, revealing a multitude of switches and fuses. In the upper right corner was a big switch, apparently the main switch.

"Okay", Peter said. "First we hit the main switch, and then turn on the individual switches for the different areas of the park." He pointed at a row of buttons with small labels beside them.

He pressed the main switch, and a small lamp lit up next to it. Then he started pressing the other buttons, lighting them up in the process. "There, that should do it." The buzz went on, and after pressing one button, the lights in the ceiling blinked and began to shine. The two men exhaled relaxed, and Race switched on the walkie-talkie.

"Benton? Yeah, Race here. We've put on the switches, so the power should be back by now."

"Still at the plant, and we're heading back toward the lake area again. You haven't... the kids haven't...?"

There was a short moment of silence, and then they heard Benton's tired voice.

"We'll find them. Out."

The two men walked back up the stairs and paused a moment at the front door and exchanged a look. Peter cocked the rifle and pointed it at the door and Race stood holding the handle.

"One... two... three!" he mouthed and then flung the door open and jumped back a step as Peter tensed with the weapon ready to fire.

Nothing happened and Peter took a step outside as Race came up behind him, also with the rifle lifted.

"Okay, let's go. How long is it to the base?"

"A few miles." He looked at Race. "The road is easier but longer. What do you think?"

Race stood silent a moment. "I seriously hope that the kids took the road... but I can't be sure. The best would be to follow the road and hope they went that way too."

He looked at Peter who gave him a look back and nodded. "Through the woods then."

* * * * *

Benton shut off the walkie-talkie and went over to Bill Waters.

"The main switch is on."

Bill nodded. "That's what I hoped for." The computer engineer turned his attention to the comp in front of him. "Come on baby, work for papa..."

He typed for a while, mumbling to himself. "Well, looks as if it worked gentlemen. I've got control over the park again.

Benton and the others gave a sigh of relief.

"Uh... gentlemen? We have a problem."

Benton, Hammond and Bill swung around and looked at Keith. The programmer was watching another screen showing the different areas and fences over the island, and his face had put on a whiter shade.

"What is it?"

He looked at the three men and pointed at the screen.

"The fences to the raptor-cage didn't turn back on..."

* * * * *

"Okay, copy that. Seems it's not our lucky day, does it?"

Race turned off the radio and turned to Peter who had listened in.

"Guess we better keep an eye out, huh?"

Peter nodded.

"So", he then said. "The power is on, but we still gotta find the kids, and we have no idea where the raptors are. The other fences should be working again, but if they're on the wrong side..."

Race looked at him. "Let's get moving."

* * * * *